Friday, December 3, 2010

ASSAMESE SOUR FISH CURRY - CURRY AIGRE DE POISSON

A few months ago fellow foodblogger and expat (Hong Kong & London) Janet Ching from "Gourmet Traveller 88" who lives in Basel (Switzerland) kindly proposed to send me a complimentary copy of her self-produced bookas an appreciation of my supporting her blog all along. It was with much excitement that I accepted her kind proposition...

A few days later the book arrived and I had a lot of pleasure going through it's pages. This little 32 pages cookbook is enjoyable and is full of delicious recipes that can be found on her blog. The vast majority of the courses presented are Asian-oriented (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Korean and Vietnamese) and a minority of them are Western-oriented (Switzerland, Holland, Italian and French).

Picking out a main course that would be featured in an article was not an easy task as I fancied many of them. Thanksfully, as I am passionate about Asian cuisine, as I drool any time the word "curry" is pronounced and as I believe in seasonal cooking my choice was made a lot easier. Since a few dishes required summer veggies I opted for a recipe that would enable me to buy local produces and respect the environment. It is for that reason that I decided upon preparing "Assamese Sour Fish Curry". Not only did the picture of that dish attract me, but I also liked the idea of eating a spicy meal that would not be too heavy nor too fat and which would bring a little heat as well as comfort - much needed with this polar weather (snow and minus temperatures) we are having here at the moment.

"Assamese Sour Fish Curry" or "Masoor Tenga" hails from Assam in northeastern India where it is a very popular speciality (a note to the purists - of course this version is a little Westernized and different from the original LOL). This light curry is really easy to prepare, can be put together in no time at all and it tastes lipsmackingly good. It is quite peppery and hot, exhaliratingly spicy, delightfully sour and has a certain freshness thanks to the addition of lime juice. Perfectly balanced and flavored!

Method:1. Using a small pan, dry fry the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and tumeric until fragrant, be careful not to burn them.2. Form a paste by crushing the peppercorns, ginger and garlic with pestle and mortar.3. Heat some oil in a large frying pan, pan-fry the fish fillet until cooked and lightly brown. Remove the fish from the pan and keep the oil.4. Add a little more oil, stir fry the onions, mustard seeds and curry leaves until the onion becomes lightly brown and translucid.5. Add the fried spices, keep stirring until fragrant.6. Then, add the wet paste, the sambal oelek and the chili sauce. Stir.7. Dissolve the chicken stock powder in the water and add into the pan, then add in the lime juice and fish sauce.8. Bring the mixture to boil and then add the fish back into the pan. Simmer for about 5 mins or until the fish is cooked.9. Serve.

Remarks:The original recipe didn't contain sambal oelek or sweet chili sauce. Instead you can add 1 red chili that has been seeded, chopped and crushed to a paste in the mortar and pestle.

You felt a lot of pressure?! I can't imagine that-your food always looks so nice, Rosa. I mean that too. It really does and you never lack in the area of photography, etc...This fish curry looks fabulous. 'Gourmet Traveller 88' sounds like a great holiday gift!

That looks nice Rosa. Btw, I come from Assam,and a 'masor tenga' or 'sour fish' is indeed a very popular dish, a major dish when I was growing up.

However, I can't help being a bit of a moaner- the typical Assamese reipe is much more simpler than this; no grinding of dry spices, no chilli sauce, no sambal oelek, no stock,and definitely no fish sauce, and the dish is much, much lighter, and has a soupy consistency.

I am sure this recipe, on it's own, must have tasted delicious too, but, sorry, it is not an 'Assamese masor tenga' at all :-)

The title alone intrigued me to no end. And now that I see what it is, and how good it looks, I'm happy to know that, while exotic and delicious looking, the dish is also very doable. Love a good curry!

Tempted? I would say screaming out for it.Great flavours, colours.I had to look up for Samabal oelek, as I had no idea what that was.I am definitely cooking this awesome dish.Lovely clicks.Wishing you a great weekend.

Your Assamese sour curry looks fantastic! Even though we're not having the polar freeze that you are, I love a comforting dish with a bit of heat, but not heavy. Have a warm and wonderful weekend, Rosa!

Yes I am tempted by the colors, spices and overall beautiful presentation of your fish curry dish. I've never tried making fish this way and maybe I should, I sure wouldn't mind having this for dinner!

This dish holds an incredible amount of character. Rosa...the whole meal seems to suit the spiciness you seem to enjoy so much ;o)This would maybe be a tad too much for my sensitive tummy.Overall...I can see that a lot of thought went into the preparation of this recipe...kudos to the author and the cook of course ;)